Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. They belong to Bandai, Sotsu, Sunrise, and any other company I forgot to mention. Please do not sue me.
Author's Note: In the first version I always felt that I didn't go into enough detail about Rei's time with the Preventers and what happened to her then so I tried to elaborate further on that as well as fleshing out her character more this time around.
ZERO SOUL
Chapter 8: Monster Reborn
By: Vegie-kun
Back at OZ's base General Whitenburg was in one of his worst moods to date. It had been three days since his prized project had disappeared and no solution had been offered. He knew she had to have been captured, most likely by the Preventers, but he couldn't risk launching a retrieval mission. They couldn't spare a single mobile suit or soldier to do it; they no longer had the necessary supplies to replace them should they be destroyed. For some unknown reason their 'importing' plan had suddenly skidded to a halt six months ago. It had become impossible to contact their resources which meant that there would be no more materials coming in. Although they had already assembled an incredibly large army of mobile suits, they would have to use them sparingly since rumors of the Gundams were confirmed. He wasn't too worried about that development since he still held a trump card, but he needed her in order for it to work.
"Haven't you gotten a transmission to her yet?" he inquired in a low and even voice. He wasn't the kind of man to shout but his voice always held a dangerous underlining that proved to be far scarier. This kind of quiet and restrained anger was what frightened the soldiers around him.
"No, sir." A soldier quickly answered. "We've been able to receive faint signals from the unit's transmitter intermittently but they disappear completely at night. We think they're keeping her in a secured room at night to prevent her from escaping." The console operator swallowed visibly, unsure of how the general would take the news.
"I am well aware of that." He seethed dangerously, "I don't care how you do it, just figure out a way to send a transmission to her." His cold blue eyes dared the soldier to retort back.
The young man hesitated, eyes shifting left and right to avoid those of the general. "Well, sir… the thing is… since her signals are weak the signals we send her are also weak, too weak for her to acknowledge."
"I don't care," his tone made it clear that he was not satisfied with excuses. "We have to send her a transmission and tell her to get back here now. We can't proceed any further without her."
"We can send a message to the unit but that would mean we would have to use more power in order for the frequency to break through..." another operator spoke up nervously, "but it would still only guarantee us enough time for a very short message.".
"Why wasn't I told of this earlier?" the General spat out furiously, causing the hairs on the soldier's neck to stand on end.
The man waited, trying to summon all the courage he held in order to reply without faltering. "Well, sir, if we boost the power up too high we would risk damaging the circuits on the unit."
"If this were any other situation I wouldn't take the chance, but we have to get her back," General Whitenburg began slowly. "There's no telling how much they've already found out. Rei has the ability to break out of there, but she won't leave unless we order her to. So when you pick up the signal again, send the message that she is to complete her mission; that is all you need to say." With one last threatening glare the general left the room. /I did not spend the last three years planning OZ's return to have it all shattered to pieces just because I couldn't get a key component back. OZ shall rise again and power will be in our hands once more... No longer will we have to submit ourselves to the naïve notions of a little girl or grovel before the Earth Sphere Unified Nation; we will once again hold the reins of the Earth and colonies just like before the Eve Wars. I will bring about a glorious new future and guide Earth and the colonies to their true destiny... I've worked too hard for this! Neither the Gundam pilots nor the Preventers will stand in my way!/
The entire room was momentarily silent after Whitenburg left before a loud sigh of relief filled the space. "Geez, I don't know who I'd rather face in a battle, the Gundams or him."
"I know what ya mean."
The bone chilling rain was unrelenting as it continued to pour down in the area surrounding Preventer Headquarters. Dark gray clouds filled the sky as the sound of thunder and occasional the flash of lightning boomed through the air. No one in the neighboring residence was anywhere to be seen, having already taken refuge inside their homes when the rain had begun to fall.
Now and then a stray dog or cat would run across the streets, trying to seek shelter under a box or other sort of makeshift sanctuary. Cars zoomed along the streets, splashing water onto the sidewalks as they drove by. Through the curtains of water a lone silhouette could be seen fighting against the weather, walking as if the downpour around it didn't exist. Trudging along with a quiet determination and spellbinding silence, the silhouette suddenly halted. Looking up to the sky she let the water caress her pale face, blinking as water neared her deep red eyes. /So soft... so gentle... so peaceful... so safe.../
Earlier that morning...
Sally, Heero and Quatre were seated at three computer consoles overlooking the data they had collected over the past three days. Slowly but surely they were beginning to decipher the devices planted on Rei's head. They speculated that the devices were affecting her brain somehow, possibly blocking out the memories of her true identity. What they weren't sure of, however, was which one of the three was doing so and isolating them proved near impossible without removing them or hurting the girl. The possibility of all three working in accordance with each other seemed likely as well but they couldn't be sure.
Rei was currently in her cell; her presence at the lab momentarily unnecessary. Before Sally could continue on with further she had to first sort out the plethora of data they'd already amassed. Over the past few days Sally had tested the girl's physical prowess and mental fortitude to their limits. In the mornings she would have her spar with Wufei who was reluctant at first with the thoughts of having to fight a girl, but quickly dropped such pretenses when he realized she'd put up quite the challenge. That was followed up by drills designed to test her dexterity, strength and resourcefulness. In the afternoons she was placed in a flight simulator and put one battle scenario after another to assess her flying aptitude. That was usually accompanied by a few hours of light interrogation as they tried to glean from her OZ's objectives as well as their location.
In the evenings Sally allowed Zechs, Noin, and the other pilots to interact with her in an attempt to spark some recognition within the girl and break through the mental hold those devices had on her. Heero had declined participation in those activities choosing instead to keep to himself while the others talked to the girl. Rei herself said and did nothing during those visits, opting to stay quiet while the others conversed about things she obviously knew nothing about. They were the enemy, that she did not deny, but in the recesses of her mind something told her they would never hurt her, at least not intentionally. The only one she wasn't sure of was the young man with the intense gaze, though she'd often recall the time when he took that bullet for her; she knew she had to be especially wary of him.
"Heero, Quatre, come over here and take a look at these chemical readings," Sally gestured to them. They stood and walked over to her station in compliance as she moved to allow them a view of the information presented on the screen. "See here," she pointed to a few lines on the monitor, "these are the chemicals that are going through her body."
"Yeah. So what?" Heero asked, uninterested.
"Well, these were taken during the times when she was relaxed so you could consider them resting levels – normal, and if you take a look over at these other readings that were taken from Wufei during their sparing sessions," she said moving her finger a couple of lines down, "these are the kind one would get when they're in a fight for their life."
"So?"
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "Usually when one is in such a situation chemicals like epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and vasopressin get released in the body. They try to compensate for the body's exhaustion by sending that person into a state of hyper arousal, increasing their speed, strength, and reflexes as well as rerouting energy needs to more imperative functions. Rel er... Rei's," she corrected herself when Heero gave her his patented death glare, "chemical levels during these training sessions are extremely high; high enough to send her into a blind rage. She shouldn't be able to discern her situation or even realize what's going on around her yet she remained incredibly calm. I mean these are the type of levels one would get when they're about to attempt a last act of desperation."
Heero digested the information, "So one of those devices is causing the amount of chemicals her body produces during a fight or mission to go to its limits in order to give her an advantage. At the same time one of the other two is keeping control over her higher level brain functions so she doesn't go berserk," he finished, summing up her thoughts.
"Uh huh. Those devices are sophisticated, but they're too small to do all that individually, they need to work in conjunction with each other to keep her in check... Hmm... At those levels anyone would go crazy and try to kill everything in sight," the doctor commented gravely. "And if you add the fact that she is now a trained assassin, you come out with one very serious problem."
"Would that explain her red eyes?" Quatre asked as he clicked a button to call forth a detailed mapping of Rei's right eye.
"Maybe... or maybe that problem is being caused by the third one," she let out a heavy sigh and opened up the most recent training video. It was starting to look like a routine session when something about the way Rei handled a gun caught her eye. "Hey, Heero, when Rei had a gun pointed at you back on that base in England, what hand was she using?"
Unsure of what she was trying to get at he recalled the incident. "Her left hand. Why?"
Sally's face turned grim. "She's right handed." Bringing up the rest of the videos from the week, she scrutinized each one and saw in every clip that Rei's dominant hand was her left. "… I honestly don't know what to make of this…"
"Wouldn't this already fall in line with our original hypothesis?" Quatre wondered, "That they've brainwashed her into thinking she's someone else."
"It does..." Sally hesitantly agreed, "But what I want to understand is 'why'? Why even bother doing something so trivial?"
The two mulled it over before Heero grasped at an answer. "A precautionary warning measure; they may have done it so that they'd have a telltale sign with which to distinguish between Relena and Rei."
Sally's eyes widened as hope dawned on her. "That means that whatever they did to her wasn't stable and she probably kept reverting back and forth… so we definitely have a chance of breaking through to her!" She beamed at Heero, a sparkle in her eyes, "We should get started on this again asap." She turned to blond pilot. "Quatre, can you go down and bring Rei here? We should get started on some new tests."
"Alright, Sally. I'll be right back.".
"Heero..." the woman called out as she concentrated on the computer monitor, "do you think today's the day we'll bring her back? Heero?"
"..."
*FLASHBACK*
"So Heero, what have you found out thus far?" the old man said with a gleam in his eyes.
Keeping his face stern and his eyes fixed on his mentor the young man began. "OZ has been training her for the type of missions that you've sent me on in the past," he stated, "and it seems that she is very capable of handling them."
"Oh?" he queried, his interest rising.
"Her training is very similar to mine." Heero's eyes became hard and his voice held a threatening note.
"Indeed, you were right in assuming that OZ found the archives I'd recorded of your training," the old man answered in amusement.
"When?" His patience was wearing thin and his voice became deadly.
"Remember when I and the other engineers were taken into OZ custody?" Doctor J started, "Well, it appears they also raided our labs. Most likely to try and find any information about the Gundams," he let out a sardonic laugh "I guess they found it alright... along with some other goodies."
"Hn." His eyes narrowed, and his glare could have burned a hole through solid steel.
"I guess that means you've got some competition, eh, Heero?" the old man's amusement growing at the thought of his 'Perfect Soldier' going up against the once peace-minded Foreign Minister.
*END FLASHBACK*
The girl's face was always expressionless, a fact that didn't change with sleep. She looked like a corpse even as most people took on a serene and content appearance. She was glad she wouldn't be called upon until later, allowing her to get the extra hours of sleep she'd lost when that particular Gundam pilot kept watch over her. Those eyes were beginning to hound her in her usually dreamless slumber. There was just something so hauntingly familiar in those eyes; she would get a sense of both fear and safety whenever she looked into them. She'd never felt like that before, even when facing certain death. Shrugging off that thought she concentrated on getting some much needed rest. /My mission is on hold until further notice. I can do nothing now but bide my time... But why do these people act so familiar around me? Like they know me?... It doesn't matter; let them act however they want. It is none of my concern... However, if they choose to get in my way, then I will have no other choice but to eliminate these obstacles./
"Rei," the sound of the blond pilot's voice immediately woke her up from her thoughtful nap. "Dr. Sally Po wants to see you. You'll be running more tests again today."
The girl nodded, slid out of the bed and waited until the boy opened the door to her cell. She stepped outside and felt the familiar touch of the gun pointed at her back. Some of the pilots had protested that the use of guns was no longer necessary since it was obvious she wouldn't attempt anything. But Heero had argued against it so strongly they had no choice but to keep up the ritual. No matter what she did Heero never let himself trust the girl; she reminded him too much of himself.
"Did you sleep well today?" he asked, hoping to start a conversation. Realizing she had no interest with such things, he continued to himself. "I didn't get much sleep myself. Even though there's a wall separating our rooms, I can still hear Duo's snoring..." More silence followed as they made their way to the stairs. "Um... Did you know that it's raining today? Yeah, it's really pouring. Everybody's decided to stay here until it lets up a bit. Wufei wasn't too happy since he had to find another place to meditate..." Seeing that it was useless to continue any further he gave up the conversation.
When they were on the stairs the girl slowed down and stopped, turning her head to the left and right and finally up. Shaking off the feeling she continued until they reached the usual testing room. She wasn't supposed to let them find out anything about her; that was the direct order from General Whitenburg, however, she was to try and stay alive at all costs. The man didn't want her to die. Procedure dictated that in the event of capture she was to see the plausibility of escaping without incurring harm. If escape were deemed momentarily impossible then she'd have to put the mission on hold until they could get a transmission to her. /Orders are to be followed without question./
"Good morning, Rei," the doctor greeted her. "Did you enjoy your sleep?" Getting no response she led her over to the usual chair and gestured her to sit down. "Today, we're going to place these sensors on your body so we can monitor it in high stress situations."
"What kind of high stress situations?" Quatre asked suspiciously, the alarms in his head going off wildly.
"Well, I was thinking of a Battle Royale involving all the Gundam pilots," she answered with a wicked grin on her face. "So how about it, Rei? Think you can handle these guys?... Rei?"
Rei had an unusually intense look of concentration and pain on her face as she stared past Sally to the back wall. /::Rei, complete assigned mission using tactic number three and return to base::... Acknowledged./ Her gaze cleared and she turned to the doctor again, a slight smile creeping on her face. She had just been given the green light to escape, but the tactic they'd ordered her to use seemed somewhat questionable. Still, orders were orders... Then she experienced an intense but brief pain in her head. "Yes, Sally?" she replied shakily.
Everyone in the room stood up, their mouths ajar. A look of disbelief adorned their faces; it was as if they had just seen a ghost. "S-She... she talked back, and she called you Sally!" Quatre piped up as he continued to stare at her with wide eyes. "This is the first time she's ever called any one of us by our names... the first time she's talked to us without us having to force her to."
"Relena?" the doctor called out hesitantly.
"Yes?" the girl responded with a tired smile.
"How are you feeling? Do you remember anything about the past nine and a half months?" she questioned with hope in her voice. /I don't know what just happened, but this could be the break we were waiting for. Maybe one of those things short-circuited, and she's gone back to being herself again./
"Not really, Sally. The last thing I remembered was being in a dark cell and then... I'm... here? H-how did I get here and what do you mean the past nine and a half months?" her voice laced with shock and fear. She looked frantically around the room and spotted Quatre and Heero. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?"
Quatre and Sally's faces brightened. She directed Heero to get the others and Quatre to relate the events that had happened so far while she got ready to prepare for another checkup.
Quatre began with everyone's welfare before letting her know of their present circumstances. He empathized with her when she stared at him confused when he broached the topic of Rei and she looked on horrified when Quatre made mention of her raids on those military bases. Though it may have seemed heartless to inform her of such things her first time back from mental captivity; he felt it better she heard from him. "Did I succeed in that last mission?" she asked, head hung low and visibly shaken.
"No, you didn't. We were able to stop you before you got back to OZ with the disk." Quatre softly replied as he laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Disk? Where is it now?"
"In there," he answered, pointing to a computer across the room. "Heero was taking a look at it earlier."
She suddenly got up and slowly walked to the console, lightly tracing her fingers over the keyboard. Pushing a button, she ejected the disk and began observing it. "So this is it? This is what I went so far as to killing people for?" her voice was somber but curious.
"Yeah," the Arabian said, nodding his head as he made his way to the girl. Her innocent curiosity made him smile, reminding him of the children back on L4. He beamed when she looked at him and smiled. /She's really back. I'm so glad that it happened before we had to do something drastic-/ There was a sharp pain in his neck and his world turned black as he fell to the floor.
There was the briefest moment of sadness when she glanced down at him but it was quickly replaced with the familiar cold mask as she silently made her way to the doctor. The girl was swift and quiet and Sally fell without realizing what had just taken place. The girl's red eyes wandered around the room until they finally fell upon her black flight suit. Knowing she had little time she briskly suited up and placed the disk back into its pocket. She surveyed the room once again, looking for a means of escape, knowing she couldn't leave through the front door. /... Air ducts./
Letting the rain fall on her face, she continued to stare unconcernedly at the sky for several minutes before facing forward once more. In an instant she burst into a sprint to close the distance between her and the small local airport down the road. Soon she was at the wired gates and quickly scaling them with the kind of physical skill and ease one would never associate with the Foreign Minister. Being careful of the barbed wires she flipped over the top and was on the other side of the barrier in mere seconds. As she surveyed the grounds it was clear that the airport was currently not in use, making her task just that much easier. Spotting the nearest hanger, she took off into another sprint in that direction.
In a matter of moments the girl was at the building's huge doors. Not sparing another moment, she shot off the lock with the gun she'd confiscated from Quatre earlier and was soon inside and out of the rain. Her eyes darted around the room scanning it for a suitable vehicle to use for her escape. After a while she settled her gaze on a small personal plane; the larger carriers also housed within the hanger would draw too much attention. Once inside she checked the gauges and fuel, nodding to herself when she was satisfied with the plane's condition. Searching the cockpit she found the button for the hanger doors. Pressing it, she waited for the doors to fully open and soon the sound of the plane's engines filled the room and the aircraft was making its way out and into the sky.
The duration of the flight was uneventful though she couldn't help but feel a slight pain in the back of her mind. It made her question the things she had done earlier that morning. /Guilt?/ She shook her head 'no'; she knew she couldn't feel those things. Her thoughts went to the tests those people had done on her and wondered if they were the cause for it. She recalled them, trying to figure out if any one of them could have had this effect on her. When nothing came to mind she quickly shook off those thoughts and once more concentrated back to the mission at hand.
After flying for less than an hour she looked out the cockpit's window and observed the surrounding area. She spotted the naval base in the distance; aside from the areas she'd blown up, it looked as if things had returned to normal. With that in mind, she kept her distance; she couldn't risk getting too close, especially if they were fully operational. Staying just far enough away, she landed in a clearing near a forest around the base. Her mind went back to the transmission that told her to complete the mission; problem was she no longer had any explosives since those damned people took them all away. Realizing she would have to use her backup she headed into the forest.
Making her way past thick snow covered shrubbery and tall pines she followed the path she had etched into mind days earlier. The mission was a simple one but instincts told her that things wouldn't turn out the way she'd wanted so she had no choice but to take precautionary measures. Ducking under a low branch she was soon standing near a large pile of leaves and branches. Reaching under the pile the girl pulled out a large jamming device. She turned it off then placed her hand on the pile of snow blanketed foliage. With a quick tug the shrubbery came tumbling down in a cascade of green and white.
The object underneath was a Gundam sitting down with its back against a cluster of trees, one that frighteningly resembled the Epyon. It was the same blood red color but the frame was smaller, more slender than its predecessor. This allowed the machine more agility, maneuverability, and speed, not that the one before it was lacking any. The curves were smoother and the overall design more streamlined but it was unmistakably still Epyon. Sprawled across the ground was the familiar heat rod attached to its shield. Looking higher one could see the same old wings, though now there were four instead of two. Higher yet was the same devil-like face the girl was strangely drawn to. /Home?/
Eight months ago...
A girl of eighteen with honey blonde hair stood quietly in front of the general's desk while a man standing next to her yelled at him.
"Sir, please reconsider this!" the young man with reddish blonde hair and light brown eyes pleaded. "I should be the one piloting the Neo Epyon not her. I'm the best pilot here! She's not even capable of piloting a standard Leo much less a Gundam." He pointed a derisive finger at her. "This girl is way too weak to handle the controls and g-forces of flight."
"Captain Dereks," General Whitenburg began in a cold voice, "you forget this Gundam contains the exact same ZERO system as the original. To my knowledge no ordinary OZ soldier has been able to master it; the only two people who've done so are Zechs Merquise and the Gundam pilot known as Heero Yuy."
"I know that, sir, but they were exceptional pilots with amazing physical capabilities. I'm pretty sure I can do just as well if I were given that kind of special training," Dereks reasoned hopefully.
"You're not listening, Captain Dereks," the general seethed impatiently. "The other Gundam pilots had a shot at that system as well but they weren't able to master it despite their piloting skills. To be able to master that thing they needed something more than just physical strength. We believe that in order to control the ZERO system one needs a strong mind that can truly focus without faltering. Those two had an unbreakable sense of determination because they were both fighting for something that obviously meant more to them than their very own lives. That is what's needed to master such a thing, a strong will and determined mind."
The general waited until the younger man absorbed the information before continuing again. "Miss Darlian over here has both of those. You see the way she fights to maintain this lofty peace, always focused on her goals and never bowing down to demands from others even at the cost of her own life." He noticed the man about to speak again but quickly cut him off, "I know you may think it's because of the Seele units we implanted on her but you're wrong. When we developed the units a year ago we tested them on several soldiers and had them go through the ZERO system. The ZERO system proved too powerful and overrode the units' command and they went berserk."
"What?" That confession had shocked him.
"The Seele units only go so far as to control the subject's mind during a field operation. However, the ZERO system disables the unit that keeps the soldier calm during the intense adrenalin rush. It only does that when the system is in use but because of that they go even crazier when it mixes the ZERO system's mind warping effects with the increased chemical production," he paused letting the captain digest the information. "Miss Darlian here has the kind of mind we need, one that is focused and dedicated, totally unwavering. Not one soldier here in OZ has that, not even you."
"But, dammit... she's still too weak to handle it," he retorted; a last act of desperation.
"The body can be trained to become strong in a matter of months but the mind may take years. Right now we don't have that."
Climbing her way up the metallic monster Rei was soon in front of the cockpit. Pressing a button located nearby, the entrance opened and she jumped inside. Strapping herself in she closed the cockpit's door and activated the Gundam. Its eyes glowed green as it awakened from the four day slumber and proceeded to get to up. Inside the small compartment the screens lit up and the humming of the engines could be heard. The girl closed her eyes momentarily, getting used to the feel before she made her way to the naval base.
Moving the Gundam's arm up, she reached for something located on its back. She soon held a sword in her hands, not the familiar beam sword but a solid one. It was the length of a regular beam sword but was made of finely tempered Gundanium, much like Sandrock's Heat Shotels. The blade had a small two-inch gap that ran through the middle from the hilt to the tip; a very beautiful, double-edged weapon. The Neo Epyon looked like a dark knight coming to destroy a village, which really wasn't far from the truth.
As the demonic machine landed near the base its grip on the sword tightened and the weapon began to hum and vibrate, emitting a strange reddish glow. Unleashing a swift slash the blade sliced through the main building like soft butter, causing explosions to erupt. Turning to the adjacent building it whipped the heat rod around and destroyed the laser cannons positioned on the roof. It quickly demolished the naval base within minutes before transforming into its flight mode. It flew away leaving behind the smoldering rubble without a second thought.
-to be continued-